Path of Hate
by WeasleySeeker
Summary: Nobody is born evil. What caused Bellatrix to become that way? —scenes from her childhood.
1. Chapter 1

"Would you like to come and see your new sister now?" asked Bellatrix's aunt Walburga. "She's very pretty," she added.

Four-year-old Bellatrix frowned. She already had one sister. Why did she need another? Andromeda was noisy and irritating enough, and took up all the attention as it was. But she supposed she would have to meet this new sister sometime, so she might as well get it over with.

"Okay," she said reluctantly, and Walburga led her and two-year-old Andromeda into their mother's bedroom.

Lying back on the bed was Druella, her mother, with newborn baby Narcissa in her arms, wrapped in blankets. When she saw the girls, Druella sat up.

"Hello, girls," she said, and Andromeda ran up to her and jumped onto the bed, snuggling up to her mother and already starting to coo at the baby. Druella smiled affectionately, but her face fell a little when she saw that Bellatrix hadn't moved from the doorway. "Don't you want to come and see your little sister, Bella?" she asked, confused.

"I can see her from here," Bellatrix informed her.

Druella laughed. "No you can't, not properly. Come closer so you can see her face!"

Warily, Bellatrix complied, going up to the bed and peeking in between the blankets at Narcissa's face. Her mother was looking at her expectantly, and Bellatrix realised that she was waiting for her to make some kind of comment.

"She's... small?" said Bellatrix uncertainly.

Her mother nodded, amused. "Yes, she is, isn't she? It's because she was born a bit early. Don't worry, though - she'll grow." Bellatrix didn't say anything else, and there was an uncomfortable silence in the room.

"She's lovely, isn't she?" Walburga encouraged, trying to relax the atmosphere a bit. Bellatrix nodded to be polite, but she didn't really think so.

Really, there was only one word to describe her new sister. _Boring_. She was so small, and her tiny fingers that were poking out of the blanket looked so feeble. She was fast asleep - what fun was that? - and didn't really seem to _do_ anything. Bellatrix was sure that she was far more interesting. And yet she knew that Narcissa would be the one who was spoilt, who got all the attention, who was _special_, like Andromeda was now. Bellatrix was the oldest, and therefore got blamed for everything. At least Andromeda wasn't the youngest any more and would get a taste of her own medicine, Bellatrix thought bitterly. Sisters. Who needed them?

Just then, Bellatrix's father, Cygnus, arrived, saw Narcissa and scowled. He sat down on a chair by the bed and sported his usual disgruntled expression. Bellatrix guessed that it was the first time he'd seen the baby - he wouldn't take time off work for anything, even for this.

"What's wrong with you?" Druella demanded. "You look like you've got up on the wrong side of bed."

"Useless," he said. "_Another_ girl? This is getting ridiculous." Bellatrix was confused - what was so much better about boys?

"Cygnus!" his sister scolded. "Leave her alone. It's not exactly her fault, is it?"

"And what's wrong with having three beautiful daughters anyway?" Druella asked defensively. "You haven't even _looked_ at her properly. Let alone asked if either of us are all right. Why do you still have these stupid old-fashioned ideas?"

Bellatrix's parents seemed to have forgotten that her and Andromeda were there. Bellatrix decided to pass the time by swatting at a fly that was buzzing around annoyingly.

"Well, they'll get married off and that will be the end of the Black name!" he exploded. "I am proud of my heritage; I want it to live on for years to come! And besides, you don't get the same pride from a daughter as you do from a son," he said wistfully. That mildly annoyed Bellatrix - just because she was a girl her father wouldn't even give her the _chance_ to make him proud. It wasn't fair. She was much more interesting than her Rosier cousins.

"Not if you're a chauvinistic pig, anyway," Druella shot back. Bellatrix didn't know what the word meant, but it was clearly offensive. She made a mental note of it and decided to use it on Andromeda the next chance she got.

"I am _not_ a chauvinist," Cygnus protested. "If you'd lived forty years ago, you would know what a chauvinist was. I would have had things to say, and _do_, to those dreadful rights campaigners. They should know their place."

Druella shook her head incredulously. "You disgust me sometimes, Cygnus. But whatever. Whatever. I don't even care any more. I don't know why I bother."

Walburga decided that this was the opportune moment to remove Bellatrix and Andromeda from the room, and as they moved off down the corridor towards the playroom, Bellatrix could hear the sounds of her parents arguing becoming more distant, but, as usual, clearly not stopping.

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**A/N: This is for the Death Eater Childhood Competition on HPFC. It will be a multichap, although I haven't decided how long it will be yet. Updates might be a bit sporadic, but will happen. :) **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise from HP.**

**OMG, I can't believe this is my 30th story!**


	2. Chapter 2

Bellatrix was pretending to play with her dolls in the corner of the living room. (She had no real interest in them, but it was either that or having to play with Andromeda - if she was playing her own game she had an excuse to ignore Andromeda.) Her mother was on the sofa with Narcissa in her arms, staring into space. Bellatrix wondered why she wasn't doing anything.

"Mummy?" Andromeda said tentatively. Her mother didn't react. That was unusual; usually if Andromeda wanted anything, she got it. "Mummy?" she said again. Still no response. "MUM!" she shouted, louder, and Narcissa began to cry.

Druella suddenly surfaced from her dream world. "What is it, Andromeda?" she snapped. She looked tired and grumpy. "Now look what you've done!"

Andromeda flinched. "Nothing," she said, but Druella was ignoring her anyway. She was preoccupied with trying to quieten Narcissa.

No matter what Druella did - walking her up and down, talking to her, singing to her, rocking her - Narcissa would not stop crying. Bellatrix didn't like the sound. She covered her ears. Why was it okay for Narcissa to cry and not her? When Bellatrix cried, she was either ignored or told to stop overreacting, so she had given up a long time ago.

"Will you shut that thing up?" Cygnus yelled from his upstairs study, banging on the ceiling.

"I'm trying, I'm trying!" Druella exclaimed. Bellatrix noticed her mother getting more and more panicky. "I just don't know what she wants!"

"You've had two other children, for crying out loud!" he shouted angrily, bursting through the door. "You should know what to do by now!"

"But I... I don't," Druella said despairingly, and she sank to her knees, tears now starting to cascade down her own cheeks as well as her baby's.

Bellatrix had never seen her mother cry before. She didn't think she liked it. She watched as Cygnus took the baby off Druella and, looking bemused, tried rocking her to make her be quiet. If the circumstances were different, it would have looked quite ridiculous, how unnatural it was to him. But the panicky atmosphere meant that Bellatrix didn't really find it funny, and it seemed like Narcissa didn't either; her screaming only increased in intensity.

Cygnus dumped the baby on the sofa and stormed over to the fireplace, grabbing a pinch - no, a handful, in his rage - of floo powder and throwing it into the flames. They flared green and he stuck his head in. Bellatrix heard his muffled voice, "Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place." There was a pause, and then he started yelling again, but his head was buried in the fireplace so Bellatrix didn't get the full blast of his voice. "Walburga? Walburga?" There was a pause, and Bellatrix could sense her father getting more and more agitated. "Hey, you - elf! Get Walburga to come over here now! No, I don't care if she's busy, I don't care what she's doing, I need her here this instant!"

He emerged from the fireplace, shaking the soot from his hair, and soon after, Walburga appeared behind him, wiping her feet on the mat by the side.

Walburga looked angry. "What is it, Cygnus?" she snapped. "I have things to do, you know!" She then looked guilty after taking in her surroundings: the screaming baby abandoned on the sofa, a sobbing Druella in the corner and Bellatrix and Andromeda lingering worriedly, not quite knowing what to do. "What's going on?" she asked, stunned.

"Well, I can't get this blessed baby to stop crying, and Druella's..." He gesticulated helplessly into the corner.

Bellatrix saw that her aunt looked quite worried. Walburga sighed and picked up Narcissa, rocking her gently, and although Walburga had no children of her own yet, her instincts for this kind of thing were obviously far superior to her brother's: Narcissa began to quieten down.

After a while, Walburga held Narcissa out to Cygnus. "Take her upstairs," she instructed.

"Wh- _me_?" he said, taken aback, but after a glare from Walburga, he took Narcissa from her and retreated up the stairs to put Narcissa to bed. Bellatrix almost felt jealous; her father never paid any attention to her.

Walburga took a deep breath, and then turned her attention to Bellatrix and Andromeda.

"Bellatrix, can you take Andromeda somewhere and look after her while I talk to your mum for a minute, please?" she asked, and Bellatrix was clever enough to tell that she was wording it very carefully, to try and make Bellatrix feel important. Bellatrix knew better, though. Walburga just wanted her out of the way.

"Okay," she said, but with no intention of doing so. She grabbed Andromeda's hand and dragged her outside, closing the door behind them but staying right outside it.

Bellatrix pressed her ear to the keyhole.

"What-" Andromeda started to say, but Bellatrix snapped at her to be quiet.

"I - I don't know what happened," Druella was saying shakily. "I just felt so... _useless_." There was a pause, and Bellatrix was getting bored. "I... this doesn't make me a bad mother, does it?" Druella asked weakly.

"Of course it doesn't," Walburga said reassuringly. "Everybody has moments like that, and you've got two other girls to look after, not to mention a... not particularly helpful husband," she added dryly.

Bellatrix heard her mother snort. "That's one way of putting it."

Walburga sighed. "I told the girls to go away for a bit... do you want me to get them back in?"

"If I know Bellatrix, they won't have gone far," Druella said, but Bellatrix thought she could detect a hint of fondness in her voice.

The door opened and Bellatrix leapt backwards, trying to look as though she hadn't been listening, but Druella just smiled, bending down and bringing her two older daughters towards her in a hug.

"Cissy makes you sad?" Andromeda said concernedly.

Druella looked guilty. "Don't be silly, of course she doesn't," she said sternly. "Please don't think that, darling. I love Cissy very much, just as much as I love you two."

"Then why -" Andromeda began, but Druella silenced her by putting a finger to her lips.

"Shh, it's okay. Don't worry about me."

Bellatrix wondered why Druella didn't want to answer the questions. She must have been lying.

Cygnus emerged from the staircase; he had evidently just finished putting Narcissa to bed. He looked surprised at the scene in front of him, and how quickly it had transformed to calm. Druella looked at him questioningly.

"I - are you okay?" he asked, uncharacteristically quietly.

Bellatrix felt Druella tense as she nodded.

Cygnus looked like he was struggling to find words. Bellatrix wondered why he didn't just _say_ something. "Good," he said finally, clearing his throat, and he marched back off upstairs.

There was silence in the room.

"Daddy makes you sad, too, doesn't he?" Bellatrix said quietly, and Druella didn't react. Bellatrix wasn't sure if she had heard, or if she was just pretending she hadn't so she didn't have to think of an answer.

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**A/N: Sorry this took so long - it was very hard to write for obvious reasons. Excuse me while I go and write some therapeutic fluff. :)**

**This is now being combined with the Sensitive/Controversial Topic Challenge with clinical depression for Druella.**

**Thanks go to kci47 for betaing this chapter for me, and to Gamma Orionis for making the lovely story cover!**


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